Reid close to deal with Chiefs, Eagles to meet with McCoy

The Eagles don’t seem in a hurry to make Mike Nolan or Keith Armstrong their new head coach.

After meeting with the Atlanta Falcons defensive and special teams coordinators, respectively, the Eagles scheduled a Sunday interview in Denver with Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy.

Saturday, presumably, is the day the Eagles put the full court press on Oregon’s Chip Kelly, whose Ducks opposed Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl Thursday night in Glendale, Ariz.

Apparently the Eagles don’t think Joe Banner’s preemptive strike will make them irrelevant as a destination. Banner’s Cleveland Browns are interviewing Kelly Friday. Cleveland.com reported the Browns, with new owner Jimmy Haslam, would be prepared to make Kelly an offer he couldn’t refuse if the interview goes well.

Meanwhile you can only wonder if the Eagles are getting as tired as you are of reading and hearing that Andy Reid is on the verge of striking a deal for another head coaching job.

Some local media outlets ‘confirmed’ on Wednesday the Arizona Cardinals were about to sign Reid to be their head coach.

On Thursday ESPN and CBS Sports reported Reid had all but reached agreement with the Kansas City Chiefs, who interviewed him Wednesday in Philadelphia. The Chiefs job makes much more sense for Reid than the Cardinals. The Chiefs (2-14) had five Pro Bowl players and own the first pick in the upcoming draft. The Cardinals (5-11) likely would want Reid to resuscitate the career of Kevin Kolb, the former Eagles quarterback who even Big Red concedes has issues with his durability.

If the Eagles cannot lock up Kelly, they would move on to McCoy, who thought he landed the Miami Dolphins job last year only to learn Joe Philbin got the job.

The Eagles also could move on to Penn State’s Bill O’Brien or Syracuse’s Doug Marrone, who, by the way are good friends with Kelly.

The attraction with Kelly is his offense that scores points and runs plays at a blistering pace. Oregon averages a staggering 51 points and 73 plays per game. Contrary to popular beliefs, the Ducks don’t play 100 mph all night long. They have multiple fast speeds.

Before the Fiesta Bowl Kelly defused questions about how his offense would work in the NFL.

“Don’t know, haven’t been there,” Kelly said. “There’s a lot of ways to play football. Trends go one way and the other … Any coach is going to learn from other people and see how they can implement it in their system. Anything you do has to be personnel driven. You have to adapt to the personnel you have.”

On several fronts the NFL already has gone up-tempo. The next question is how far a guy like Kelly can take it.

McCoy also gets together with the Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals are going to meet with Todd Haley, offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers, indicating they’ve checked Reid off their list.

Speaking of Reid, he’s expected to fill his staff with the likes of Pat Shurmur, who was fired as head coach of the Browns, Clevaland assistant Brad Childress and some Eagles staffers. Wide receivers/senior offensive assistant David Culley is a possibility to join Reid.